After your treatment in Bangkok an aftercare and recovery guide for foreign visitors

01Why aftercare matters more when you're a traveler

Editorial

Waleerat Clinic

Bangkok

Live Young, Look Younger

When a Bangkok patient gets Botox at lunch and is back at home that evening, an unexpected lump or bruise is uncomfortable but not frightening — they live ten minutes from the clinic. When a Hong Kong, Singapore or Dubai visitor gets the same procedure, day-3 swelling lands while they're at a hotel breakfast or in a Suvarnabhumi departure lounge — without language, without their dermatologist, and often without enough background to know whether what they're feeling is normal recovery or a complication.

This guide is for that gap. Every section below maps to a real question we get on LINE from foreign patients in their first week post-treatment.

The protocols come from the manufacturers of the products we use (Allergan, Galderma, Merz) and from Waleerat Clinic's standard post-procedure instructions — the ones our nurses walk you through verbally on the day. This is the written-down, English-language version you can re-read at the hotel.

02The universal first 24 hours — applies to every treatment

Three rules that apply regardless of what you had done. They limit the swelling, bruising, and product migration that can amplify any procedure's downsides.

Stay upright for four hours. Don't lie flat, don't nap face-down, don't slouch in the airport. Gravity needs to keep the product where the doctor placed it.

No alcohol, no aerobic exercise, no direct heat (sauna, hot bath, prolonged sun) for 24 hours. All three thin the blood and amplify bruising. A walk through the mall is fine; the hotel gym is not.

No deep facial pressure or massage. Skip the spa treatment, sleep on your back, don't wear a tight headband or motorcycle helmet.

Even gentle pressure on a Botox-injected forehead can drift the product into the eyelid — the most common cause of post-Botox lid drop is sleeping face-down on day 1.

• Stay upright 4 hours after any injection
• No alcohol / aerobic exercise / sauna / hot tub for 24 hours
• No firm pressure or massage on the treated area for 48 hours
• If you fly within 24 hours: aisle seat (don't sleep against the cabin wall), keep head supported, plenty of water

03Botox / Xeomin / Hutox aftercare

Botulinum toxin is the lowest-recovery treatment we offer. Most patients have no visible signs by the next morning.

The aftercare rules are mostly about not unintentionally moving the product before it binds to the muscle — which takes about four hours.

Day 0 (rest of treatment day). Stay upright for four hours.

Move the muscles you treated every 30-60 minutes (forehead lifts, frown, smile) — this helps the product engage. Tiny bumps or pinprick redness at injection sites resolve within 30 minutes; if you have an event, plan for a 60-minute buffer.

Days 1-3. Bruising, if any, peaks at day 2 and resolves by day 5. Effect onset begins at day 3-5; full effect at day 10-14. Don't judge the result before day 10.

Day 7 onward. If a brow looks asymmetric or the effect feels incomplete, message us — minor touch-ups are free for 14 days post-treatment, no questions asked.

• Stay upright 4 hours · move treated muscles every 30 min that day
• Bruising peaks day 2 · effect onset day 3-5 · full effect day 10-14
• Free touch-up window: 14 days. Just message LINE
• Red flag: lid droop or asymmetric smile that lasts beyond day 14 — call us

04Hyaluronic-acid filler aftercare — and when lumps are normal

Filler has the longest list of post-treatment questions because of one simple thing: you can feel it. The fact that you can feel a small lump under the skin in the first two weeks is normal — it's how filler works.

The question is whether that lump is product distributing, or product that needs intervention.

Days 0-2. Pinpoint redness, swelling, mild bruising, and the feeling that the area is 'fuller than it will eventually be' — all normal.

Apply ice in 10-minute intervals for the first 2-3 hours. Sleep on your back with your head slightly elevated for the first night.

Days 3-7. Swelling resolves; the area starts to feel like the doctor's intended result.

Small (rice-grain to lentil-sized) lumps that you can gently massage flat with circular finger pressure are normal. They will fully smooth out by week 2-3 as the filler integrates with the surrounding tissue.

Days 7-14. By the end of week 2 you should have your final result.

Lumps that haven't responded to gentle massage, or that have gotten harder rather than softer, get evaluated by the doctor. Most non-resolving lumps respond to either additional gentle massage or a small dose of hyaluronidase — the dissolver enzyme — to reset and refill if needed.

Reality check on dissolution. Some HA fillers are deliberately formulated to be more cohesive (less easily dissolved).

Brand differences matter: Juvéderm Voluma and Restylane Lyft are denser and slower to dissolve than Belotero Balance. If your previous clinic used a brand outside our menu — like the newer HYAMAX, Ladysse, or Redisse — and you're now finding it didn't migrate the way you hoped, that's a 'come in for an evaluation' visit, not a 'something is wrong' visit.

We can still dissolve and reset.

• Day 0-2: ice 10 min on / 10 min off · sleep elevated · normal swelling
• Day 3-7: small lumps that massage flat = normal
• Day 7-14: hard or growing lumps = book an evaluation
• Day 14+: final result. Asymmetry or volume gaps get a free top-up assessment
• Red flag NOW: skin colour change (white, blue, dusky), severe one-sided pain, or any vision change — call +66 92 789 6699 immediately

05HIFU / Ulthera / Thermage / Oligio aftercare

Energy-based treatments work by injuring the deep dermis to trigger collagen — which means the visible signs (redness, swelling, occasional lines along the treatment grid) are the treatment working. They look more dramatic on day 0 than they actually are.

Day 0. Mild redness, warmth, occasional swelling.

Many patients report a 'just-after-a-workout' tingly feeling that lasts 2-4 hours. Aloe vera gel or a refrigerated cold compress helps.

Avoid hot showers — lukewarm only — for the rest of the day.

Days 1-3. Redness fades. Some patients see faint linear marks along the treatment grid; these resolve by day 5. The skin can feel slightly tight, slightly tender to firm pressure — both are expected.

Days 7-30. The 30% immediate tightening you see on day 0 fades into a more natural-looking baseline; this is normal.

The collagen building under the skin doesn't hit its peak until 2-3 months post-treatment. Final result is at month 6.

Skincare. Avoid retinol, AHAs/BHAs, glycolic acid, and any active acids for 7 days. Mineral SPF 50+ daily — non-negotiable for the first month, even if you're indoors most of the time.

06Thread lift aftercare (PDO / PCL)

Thread lift has the most aftercare to remember because the threads are physically present under your skin for 6-12 months as they slowly dissolve. The early-week rules protect the threads from migration; the long-term rules protect the result.

Days 0-3. Swelling and bruising peak at day 2.

Sleep on your back with your head elevated. Soft food only — no hard chewing for 48 hours.

Apply ice in 10-minute intervals for the first day. The pulling sensation along the cheek or jawline is normal and is the threads doing their work.

Days 3-14. Bruising resolves.

The face may feel slightly tight when you smile broadly or yawn — this fades by week 3. Continue sleeping on your back; rolling onto a thread before it has fully integrated can shift it.

Avoid yoga inversions, dental work, and aggressive facials for two full weeks.

Weeks 2-12. Threads stimulate collagen along their tracks.

The visible lift you see at week 2 is partly mechanical (the threads holding) and partly collagenous (the new collagen forming). At week 6-8 the mechanical lift fades and the collagen lift becomes the durable result.

Don't panic at the week-3 'is it gone?' moment — it isn't.

Long-term. Maintenance threads at month 8-12 keep the lift building. We track this in your clinic record so the next visit picks up where the last one left off.

• Sleep on your back · soft food 48h · no facials, yoga inversions, or dental work for 14 days
• Day 2 = peak bruising. Take a photo on day 0 + day 7 — the difference is striking
• The 'lift fading' feeling at week 3 is normal — the collagen result builds underneath
• Maintenance threads at month 8-12 = the durable strategy

07Eye-area treatment aftercare — the most anxiety-prone zone

Eye-area work (under-eye filler, brow-lift Botox, Ptosis Correction, tear-trough Rejuran) is the most question-generating recovery zone in our chat archive — by far. The eye area swells dramatically because the skin is thinnest there.

Day-1 photos look much worse than the day-7 result. Almost every patient calls us in panic at day 2; almost none of those calls were a real complication.

Sleep on your back with your head elevated on two pillows for the first two nights. The single most important variable in how puffy you look on day 1.

Avoid bending forward (yoga, picking up suitcases, tying shoelaces) — bending sends extra fluid to the eye area. If your hotel is on a high floor, take the elevator.

Cold compress 10 min on / 10 min off for the first 4 hours after the procedure. Use a refrigerated gel mask, not ice directly on the skin.

What's normal: swelling that peaks day 2, mild bruising that fades to yellow by day 5, the feeling that the under-eye is 'fuller than it will be'. What's not: vision changes (blurred, double, partial loss), severe one-sided pain, or sudden colour change in the skin.

Vision change after under-eye filler is a true emergency — message us AND go to a hospital ER immediately, don't wait.

08Red flags — when to message us within the hour, not next day

Most aftercare questions can wait for our 11:00 LINE shift. The signs below cannot.

They are uncommon — under 0.1% of treatments — but the cost of waiting is high enough that we'd rather hear from you immediately, even if it turns out to be nothing.

If any of these apply, message LINE @waleerat AND call +66 92 789 6699 within the same hour. The phone line routes to an on-call physician outside business hours.

• Vision changes after any face injection — blurred, double, partial loss
• Severe one-sided pain that wasn't there an hour ago
• Skin colour change in the treated area: white, blue, dusky, mottled (this is the sign of a vascular event)
• Spreading rash beyond the treated area, or hives + difficulty breathing
• Fever above 38°C combined with redness/swelling beyond the treated area
• After thread lift: thread visibly poking through the skin — don't pull
• After Botox: difficulty swallowing or breathing (extremely rare but call immediately)

09How to reach us when you're back home

Patients often delay messaging because they assume we're closed or that it's not worth the international call. Here's the reality:

LINE @waleerat — open 11:00-19:00 Bangkok time daily, with the same English-speaking team that briefed you in clinic. Photos welcome and helpful. We answer in English.

Phone +66 92 789 6699 — answered during business hours by reception, after-hours routes to the on-call physician for emergencies.

WhatsApp — same number as the phone line. International patients who don't use LINE can WhatsApp; we treat it the same.

Email contact@waleerat.com — slowest channel; use this only for non-urgent follow-up like ordering more skincare.

10If you're still in Bangkok — come back to either branch

Same-day follow-up evaluations are free at either branch through day 14 post-procedure.

Siam Square One (BTS Siam) — 11:00-19:00, walk-in evaluations welcome.

Ekamai (BTS Ekamai exit 4) — same hours, often easier to fit a same-day slot in the afternoon.